We need tools to manage our thoughts, data, information and knowledge to be able to find insights. A bit of structure and system could benefit you when seeking new ideas – and keeping track of them!
Having a Brain Bank is very useful. I have one on my Evernote. But ideas are a dime a dozen. What you need is an ‘Insight Bank’.
What’s an Insight Bank?
For practical purposes, I’ll tell you how I use Evernote to store insights. Continue reading
‘We’ve never done a problem of this kind’ exclaim students.
‘We’ve never seen a problem like this before’ exclaim business executives.
See the pattern? Continue reading
A few weeks go, Bill Taylor (@practicallyrad) asked: Are you learning as fast as the world is changing?
Next question is: Are you applying as fast as you are learning?
Here’s what I’ve noticed for awhile since I’ve been on Twitter, but became a little more obvious to me in the last few weeks Those of us who spend time on Twitter are a lot more cognitively accelerated than those who are not.
Case in point: My Mix group I told you about. They are interesting people and have a lot of things to talk about. But none of them have a Twitter account. Or a blog. And it dawned on me that by only meeting once per month, that this isn’t going to change anytime soon.
For example, One of the Co-Founders of Serena Healthcare, who also in the group, provided me with another insight. Here’s a guy who takes mindmap notes on his iPad as you are speaking. And if he doesn’t have his iPad, he takes notes on his laptop as you are explaining things to him. But you know what? For all his note taking abilities, he doesn’t have or want a Twitter account because he feels overwhelmed by it fast paced nature.
What?
This guy’s mind moves fast. But apparently not fast enough.
So does that mean that we ‘The Twitterati’ are a special bunch? I know some people who think so. They tell me that Twitter is for intellectuals, not for the lazy minded. Twitter is a fire-hose of knowledge no doubt (if you filter it becomes even more apparent), but that’s not where the discussion should stop. Continue reading
Dolls are supposed to be cute right? Not so according to UglyDolls. They designed their dolls to be the opposite of conventional wisdom.
UglyDolls might have asked themselves: What if we designed our product the wrong way? What if we made dolls that are ugly instead of cute?
According to WSJ, University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School is trying to capture mistakes like this, with the idea that making mistakes on purpose is something that all of us could be taught. Today the business school named the winners of its first Brilliant Mistakes Contest, which awarded prizes (including Southwest Airlines tickets, free courses and conference tickets, and lunch with a contest judge) to people whose mistakes were the most productive. Continue reading
As leaders we have all the answers right?
Wrong!
We don’t. And we know we can’t possibly know everything. That’s why we’re always learning by asking questions, reading, tinkering, observing and listening.
But also influencing others by the questions we ask.
Here’s a short story: Continue reading
Isn’t it kind of old to see the word ‘differentiate’ on proposals? I mean, any strategy should be different. And adding the words ‘different’ to proposals doesn’t necessarily make it different. Difference is in the actions. Not the words.
Here’s a thought: Let’s frame differentiation as creating memories.
Look at the video below: Continue reading
